The Niagara News is the community newspaper of Niagara College located in Welland and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It is created and produced by the students of the Niagara College Journalism program.

Hug your animal companions for Love Your Pet Day

It’s time to get up close and personal with your pets for Love Your Pet Day.

It’s not that most pet owners don’t love their pets every day, but on this day each year, owners are encouraged to give their pets a little extra dose of loving.

This “unofficial” national holiday has hard-to-trace origins. It would seem that’s of little importance, however, as the Internet gives a proverbial shoulder shrug and just accepts the day.

And who wouldn’t?

Aside from being best friends to humans and photo-opportunity magnets, pets also provide many concrete reasons to be loved. Many of those are also health related.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pets have the ability to decrease blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels and reduce loneliness just by being the loving creatures they are.

Animals also increase the potential for exercise and outdoor activities as well as socialization. The Animal Planet lovingly refers to pets as “instant icebreakers.”

Not to mention the numerous people who benefit from the companionship and guidance of a therapy, service or guide animal. True, those animals have more responsibility than just being cuddly companions, but they’re a key role in their humans’ lives.

Think even of the Therapy Tails dogs that visit the college’s Welland and Niagara-on-the-Lake campuses. These pooches important in their owners’ lives, but they also brighten the days of the students they meet.

In Canada, according to Canada’s Pet Wellness Report from 2014, roughly 32 per cent of households have a cat and 34 per cent have a dog. Fifty-seven per cent of Canadian households have a pet of some sort.

The first evidence of pets comes from around 10,000 BC. One website gives information about a grave from that time period found with human and dog remains, whereas another sites a dog’s jawbone dating back to around the same time found in a cave.

In those days, pets more than likely would have been working animals, but nowadays most pets live a life of luxury. According to the American Pet Product Association, Americans spent $47.7 billion on pet products in 2010.

Pets can be any animal you can think of, but it shows animals have been our companions for a long, long time. And since they’ve stuck with humans for that long, they deserve a little extra loving.

Whether you’re the kind of person who buys outfits for your pets, who takes them to a pet spa or who likes to buy them extra treats, remember on Saturday to love them just a little more than usual.